


Choosing Our Destinies

by ricorodriguez2003



Series: Destinies Trilogy [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Harry Potter is Not the Boy-Who-Lived
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-05-31 19:48:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15126641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ricorodriguez2003/pseuds/ricorodriguez2003
Summary: Harry Potter is the brother of the boy-who-lived. The day his brother was attacked, he made a silent vow to train and prepare him in every way possible to destroy the evil that is Voldemort. As he delves deep into different kinds of magic, both known and unknown, he realizes that Voldemort may not be as evil as the horrors he is about to face. A different kind of non-bwl fic.





	1. The Beginning

Daniel groaned as he hastily put up another shield to block his brother's stunner, he then had to dodge another stunner coming from his brother. Normally His shield would last against at least two stunners, but this was Harry and even his low-powered stunner could break his shield. He never asked why he had to this amount of training or why he was allowed to perform magic without alerting the Ministry, he knew as the boy-who-lived, Voldemort was never dead and was simply biding his time, he knew that one day Voldemort would rise and he would have to face him.

So he knew that he had to get every ounce of training he could get and that he would never get to live a normal life until voldemort is defeated.

Dumbledore was against the idea of training him, as he believed that Daniel needed to have a happy childhood, but Harry refused, saying that Voldemort didn't care if you had a happy childhood or not and keeping his ignorant would decrease his chances of survival. Their parents surprisingly, agreed with the idea, but it didn't mean they liked it. Daniel trained since every day from his eighth birthday till now. His trained consisted of many things including dueling, potions, transfiguration, physical training, wizarding history, charms along with other subjects. He was taught by his parents and Dumbledore, Harry's job was to duel him at times, keeping him fit. Dumbledore trained him in occlumency, which came rather easily to him.

He sent a stunner at Harry which he dodged and sent an expelliarmus at him. Caight off guard, he didn't have enough time to put a shield or dodge, he was blasted away from the sheer power in the spell.

Harry came up to him, holding his wand in his hand and pulled him up.

"Not bad" ,He said, "You still have to improve your defence and your reflexes, but other than, that you did good."

It always felt good when his brother praised him. It was different than the praise his parents or his uncles or Dumbledore gave him.

Suddenly, his stomach grumbled, Harry chuckled and said, "Get changed and come to breakfast". Dan agreed and quickly changed. They walked into the kitchen to see... THEIR PARENTS MAKING OUT?!

"Mom, Dad", Harry groaned.

Startled, their parents stopped tbeir snogging and turned away, their clothes and hair, messy and Mother was blushing hard while their father had a wide grin on his mother quickly put the breakfast on the table and they sat down to have it.

James and Harry started to have a conversation about quidditch. Lily frowned on them, but they pointedly ignored it. Daniel finished his breakfast and was about to get up when a loud screech sounded outside the kitchen. They looked at the source of sound and saw a brown owl carrying a letter. Daniel was quickly filled with nervousness, his eleventh birthday was last week and he knew that hus hogwarts letter would come almost any day now. His mother told him to get the letter. He went up to the owl and carefully took the letter from it. He turned the letter and saw a lion, a snake, an eagle and a badger surrounding a huge 'H'. Hus nervousness quickly turned to exhilaration and he opened the letter, quickly reading the contents of the letter.

After reading the first few lines, he turned towards his parents and said, " It's my Acceptance letter"

His parents hugged him and told him told him to send a reply immediately.

Excited, he screamed, "I'M GOING TO HOGWARTS!"

His family laughed at his feeling happy, he went to his room to write the reply.

So far, Harry was having a good day. His brother's training was going well and he had received his acceptance letter that morning.

Harry was going into his fourth year now and he had received his letter a week ago. His parents were talking about going to diagon alley the next day so he figured that he would go with them. He also had to visit Knockturn alley to make some... rather peculiar purchases, as he had done so before. His parents don't know about it, of course but sometimes he suspected that Dan knew about it. But if he knew about it, he certainly didn't rat about it to his parents which made him in a sort of debt with his brother. Ugh, he hated being in debt with someone no matter who that person was. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone flooing in.

He looked up and saw Sirius Black, his godfather grinning at him.

"Hey there, pup", Sirius said.

Harry groaned," Ugh, didn't I tell you before to never call me that again"

"Yeah, but when have I ever listened ?", Sirius said, smirking at him.

"Never", said Harry.

"So what makes you think that I will listen now", Said Sirius.

"Oh, just the fact that I have my wand pointed at you ",Harry said, smirking.

Sirius noticed his wand and quickly fled out of the kitchen. Harry put down his wand, smiling at Sirius's uncle was the ever prankster. Harrt could hear his mother berating Sirius for tracking mud on the floor.

Harry got up from the dining room and went to the living room, his father was discussing pranks with Sirius, no doubt planning on teaching it to Dan. His mother was currently in her study, researching some kind of new spell, after all , she wasn't called the brightest witch of her age for nothing.

"Harry", His father called.

"Hey dad", He responded.

"Heard some rumors that you had a girlfriend, who's the lucky girl ?", Asked his father.

'Traitor' thought Harry. He was sure that Daniel was the source of the rumor.

"Her name's Alexandra and before you ask anything, she's not my girlfriend", said Harry and it was true. Alexandra Malfoy was anything but his girlfriend. She was more like a sister to him. Abandoned at an orphanage by her parents for not being a boy, she grew up in the streets, making her cunning and deadly which could be seen in the school. Extremely beautiful, many boys in school desired her but nobody approached her in fear of being hexed. Her skill with and without a wand was widely known throughout hogwarts. Harry took pride in being one of the only people she trusted in the whole world.

"Sure, sure, anything you say", said his Dad, smirking.

"Hey, it's true", Harry protested.

"Lily said the same thing if someone asked her about James when in fact she was drooling over him", said Sirius.

"I heard that", Lily's voice came from the study.

The two marauders winced. Harry smiled and went to his bedroom. He had yet to have started on his homework. Harry knew that he could have completed it in about a week but he decided to put it off for some time. He was one of the top three brightest students in the school, the others being Alexandra Malfoy and Daphne Greengrass, both Slytherins and his best friends.

He started doing his homework and by the time he reached halfway through it, he heard his mother calling him, telling him about some guest and to come down, confused about it, he went down and his confusion vanished once he saw who was the guest.

It was his favourite uncle and his godfather. Peter Pettigrew was standing in the living room.

Author's Note: This is the first chapter of my Harry potter non-bwl fanfic and it's also mt first one as well. Since I'm still lerning about writing, there may be some mistakes so please forgive me for it. If you think the story us boring, don't worry it gets better. Also remember the fact that this is a complete AU and massive changes have been done to various situations, characters, places etc.

For e.g. In this fic Lily and James are older than in canon.

As this is cleared up, I'm stopping now before the AN gets longer than the chapter. Reviews, follows and favourites and always appreciated.

Sorry, something I forgot to put in the beginning:

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J K Rowling does, don't sue me


	2. A Day in Diagon Alley

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. J K Rowling does, so don't sue me.

Chapter 2

A DAY IN DIAGON ALLEY (HARRY POV)

Peter Pettigrew was standing in the living room.

"Uncle Peter", Harry heard his brother's voice, his tone laced with surprise.

"In the flesh", His uncle replied.

Harry broke out of his own surprise and went to hug his uncle.

"I thought that you were doing some research in some unknown country whose name you're not allowed to say", Harry said.

"Yeah, I was, but we had some complications. Encountered some nasty wards. Three of us were injured and one of them is now in a magically induced tried breaking them but even our most experienced curse breakers couldn't break them. The Department's postponed the work there for some time until they figure out how to break the wards.", Peter said.

Harry knew the wards must be more than nasty if Peter's curse breakers couldn't break them. It was because that Peter Pettigrew worked in the Department Of Mysteries, in the rituals and wards department had some of the best curse breakers in the world, if they were unable to break the wards, it must be more than nasty.

"Wards that even your curse breakers can't break ! How old are they, Wormtail ?", James asked his best friend.

"We don't know for sure but out preliminary studies indicate that they are at least a 100 thousand years old if not more", Pettigrew replied.

Both the older potters were speechless.

"You know, I really wanted to find out about the site, there were some really ancient tomes there, about ancient rituals and wards", Peter said.

Harry knew this was true. His uncle had a never-ending curiosity for rituals, both ancient and new. It was also the reason he was the youngest person to ever join the department of mysteries. He knew more about rituals than anybody in the world, with the possible exceptions being the Flamels and maybe Dumbledore.

"Hey, wormtail, you heard anything from Remus ?", he heard his father ask.

"You know how he is, travelling around the workd, studying different cultures, teeling people about his method of controlling his lycanthropy", Peter said.

"Yeah", said James

His another uncle, Remus Lupin was a werewolf. And he was the first person to ever control lycanthropy. His father told him the story about how it happened. His and his friends had become animagi for Remus. James was a stag, Prongs. Sirius, a dog named Padfoot and Peter, the rat named Wormtail. They used to roam the village with remus when he transformed, prongs and padfoot keeping from hurting others. But one night, Remus came close to attacking a child. The only thing that stopped him was Prongs and Padfoot. When he came to know about it after he became a human back again, he was extremely horiified. He slipped into depression, and succumbed completely to the wolf. Next time he transformed, the wolf was fully in control, not even prongs and padfoot couldn't control him. But Remus Lupin forcefully regained control preventing the wolf from hurting others. But after he changed back, he discovered that his werewolf was successfully tamed, allowing him to change whenever he desired, without losing his mind. Even though he did have to tranform at full moon, the pain of transforming was not that bad and he could keep his mind during the transformation. Amazed by his discoveries, he travelled around the world, informing people about his condition and teaching others like him to control the condition.

"Harry, HARRY!", his father's voice broke him out of his thoughts.

He cursed had a (rather annoying) habit of losing himself in his thoughts.

"Oh, sorry, What were you saying ?", Harry asked not really knowing what they were talking about.

"We were talking about inviting Peter to join us in going to Diagon Alley tomorrow and we wanted to ask your opinion about it", his mother replied, her eyes shining with amusement.

Harry hesitated at first, even though he had no problem with Peter joining them, he really wanted to go to Knockturn Alley, something that would not be possible with Peter being there. The Man was too observant to not notice him missing.

But seeing the hopeful face of his brother, he had no option but to agree.

"Yeah, I don't have any problem with that", Harry said.

"Perfect", James said.

"Now as this is sorted out, I think I better leave, I've to go to to see my mother and I don't think they will let latecomers there.", Peter said, getting up to leave.

Harry remembered that was admitted in the permanent ward at for mental health.

Peter drank something from the bottle he kept in his belt and he started changing into a blonde man shorter than himself.

Harry felt another stab of pity as he saw the man changing. He knew that the bottle contained polyjuice and his Uncle had to use it every time he went out. He didn't know the reason behind this but felt that it was too important if his parents kept it from him.

After Peter left, Harry got up and went to his room, thinking about new plans for tomorrow.

THE NEXT DAY (AT DIAGON ALLEY)

Daniel was feeling was the day he'd dreamed about since he was kid. He was going to get his own wand now. All these years he was using a practice wand.

He entered Ollivanders wand shop with his parents following him. Harry was off somewhere with uncle Peter, he suspected Knockturn alley. As he looked around the shop, he saw no one there.

"I've been waiting for you ", a voice said from his right, startling him.

As he looked at the source of the voice, he gazed into the silvery grey eyes of Garrick Ollivander.

His mother rolled her eyes at the old wand maker's dramatics.

"Ah Lily Potter, Ten and a quarter inches, swishy and made of willow. Nice wand for charms.", said looking at Liy.

He then set his gaze on James ,"Mahogany, eleven inches, pliable.A little more power and excellent for transfiguration."

"Right as always, Ollivander", James said.

"The older Potter is not here, eh", Ollivander said with a disappointed sigh.

"No he has some shopping to do", Lily said.

"He is a good kid. I've never met someone so interested in wandlore as him", said Ollivander, his eyes holding a distant look.

Ollivander then smiled at him and said,"Now let's get to work, shall we? Which is your wand hand ?"

"I'm right-handed ", Daniel replied.

Ollivander took a tape measure and started measuring his hand. After the measuring, they tried many wands and Ollivander seemed got more and more excited with each one.

"Tricky customer, eh. Not to worry, we'll find the right mach for you. I wonder, now - yes, why not - unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple", the wand maker said and went behind the shelves and came back with another one.

Daniel took the wand and was suddenly filled with a warmth he had never experienced before.

"I think this is it", Danuel said to the overexcited wand maker.

"Curious, very curious", Ollivander said.

"I'm sorry, but what's curious ?",

Daniel asked the wand maker.

'I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather – just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother – why, its brother gave you that scar.'

Daniel swallowed.

'Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember ... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr Potter ... After all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things – terrible, yes, but great.'

"That will be thirteen galleons", said ollivander.

They quickly paid the money and got out of the shop. The wand maker was seriously creeping him out. But now, he had his own wand.

LILY POV

Lily Potter was worried about her sons which was what every mother did. She knew about the prophecy and she prayed to the god every day since his birth to let her children llive a normal life. But the day Voldemort attacked them and his plans were thwarted by baby Daniel, she knew that Dan was the child of the prophecy She knew that he could never live a normal life as long as Voldemort was not completely dead but she hoped she could be with her children for a little longer.

They were now in the bookstore, buying Dan's school books when the Weasleys entered the shop.

The Potters used to be great friends with the Weasleys. But now there was no relation between them. The differences between the families occurred mainly due to the differences between the two mothers. Molly Weasley believed that childrwn needed to be kept ignorant, and only in that way will they be kept innocent. She also tended to mother Harry and Dan, which annoyed Lily. But the last straw was when she suggested a marriage contract between Dan and her daughter Ginny. She believed that people should find love and marriage themselves, not by aome contract.

Due to these reasons , there was tension between the two Weasleys didn't notice them. They were extremely poor whuch meant that most of their school things were second-hand .

Lily remembered that your youngest son was starting Hogwarts that year.

They quickly got their books and left not wanting to draw the attention of the Weasleys.

Lily looked at the next stop on their list. They still needed to get robes.

So, Madame Malkin's it is.

DANIEL POV

Daniel was currently in Madame Malkin's getting his robes measured up.

'Mr Ollivander was sure creepy.' he thought.

"Are you Daniel Potter ?", a voice asked to his left.

He looked there and saw a blonde girl looking curiously at him.

"Are you ? Cause you sure look like him" the girl said.

Dan was confused. Who was this girl ?

"I'm sorry, but who are you ?", Dan asked her.

"Oh, Sorry. I'm Astoria Greengrass.", the girl, Astoria said.

'Greengrass, hey I know that name'

Dan thought. He had seen his brother writing a letter to someone named Greengrass.

"Do you havea sister or a brother ?",

he asked her.

"Brother, no. But sister, definitely. My sister is Daphne Greengrass.", Astoria replied.

"Oh", Dan said. So, that was the girl Harry was writing too.

"You still haven't answered my question", Astoria said, interrupting his thoughts.

"What ?", Dan asked the girl, again.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Daniel Potter, like you suspected.", Dan replied, feeling awkward.

"Oh, I didn't suspect. I was sure about it but I neeeded to hear it from you.", Astoria said, smiling widely.

Dan was annoyed by the girl's answer. She was really weird. He didn't really understand what she doing. Thankfully, the witch who was taking his measure came back with the robes, so he was able to get out of there.

So far, the day wasn't what he expected. Two of the shops he went to had weird people and he hoped

that the next shop wasn't so weird.

Outside, he saw his mother waiting with the rest of his things. He only had a pet to buy, he hoped that he could get an owl like his brother. But who knows, he may find something interesting there.

HARRY POV

Turns out he didn't have to make any plan at all. Peter knew somehow that Harry wanted to go to Knockturn alley. He asked Harry to come with him to knockturn as he wanted to check out some shops there. While Peter was doing his work, Harry went to Borgin and Burkes.

"Ah, Mr Potter, welcome back. It's been some time since your last visit", greeted the owner, Felix Borgin.

"I know Mr Borgin. I've been busy you know.", Harry said.

"I can see that", Borgin said, gesturing to his body.

Harry blushed. He had working out a little bit since past summer and his body showed it.

"Is there anything you want in here Mr Potter ?", Borgin asked him.

"Yeah, I want these books", Harry said and gave him the list of books.

"Oh my, books about dark magic. Do you think that your parents will agree to it young man ?", the older man asked, looking at the list.

"You know that I dont care about dark or light, Mr Borgin. There is only magic. ", Harry answered.

"Okay, if you say so", Borgin said as he waved his wand and the books in his list came flying into his hands.

"Okay, here you go. That will be one hundred and twenty galleons ", Borgin said, giving him the books.

He paid the man and put the books the books in his bag. The bag contained an undetectable extension charm so he could put all the books in it.

After that, he went into some other shops to get some things. Foeglasses, sneakoscopes and after that he went to buy his books and school equipment.

Just as he finished buying the things he wanted, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Well, well, look who it is"

Harry turned around and saw Alexandra Malfoy standing there, smirking at him.

"Malfoy", he said.

"Potter",came the reply.

He wasn't really surprised to see her there. Alexandra was like a daughter to most of the residents at Diagon Alley and she always had a free and permanent room at the Leaky Cauldron. She spent most of the summer holidays there.

"Thought you weren't coming till next week", She asked him.

"My brother's starting at Hogwarts this year. He's been jumping up and down about going to Hogwarts since he was three years old. So, my parents thought that we could come here a bit early", Harry replied.

"Cool", said Alexandra.

"How's Daphne ?", Harry asked. Daphne Greengrass was his other best friend. The last time he heard from her, she was being sought out by different families for marriage contracts. Her father refused every one of them. Marcus Greengrass believed in a marriage based on true love. But that didn't mean Daphne wasn't annoyed.

"She was doing okay the last time I contacted her", Alexandra replied.

They talked for some time more when they were interrupted by a voice.

"Care to introduce us to your friend, Harry ?"

Both of them turned around to see his family standing there, his father smirking at him, his mother housing a curious expression and his brother gaping at him.

Alexandra held out her hand to his father and said," Greetings Lord Potter. I'm Alexandra, Alexandra Malfoy."

Harry saw his father stiffen at the name Malfoy. Alexandra must have noticed it too because she suddenly said that she had to go somewhere and left quickly.

After she left, he turned towards his parents,

"What wa that ?", He accused.

"Nothing", his father protested, holding his hands up.

"Don't say nothing. I saw you stiffen at the name Malfoy ", he said.

"Look, I'm sorry. It's just that I was surprised that she was a Malfoy. It's been centuries since a Malfoy and Potter were friends",James said.

"Look, Alexandra is not like others. She was abandoned at birth and knew of her heritage only when she came to Hogwarts.", Harry said, pinching his nose in frustration. Normally, Harry would never betray a friend's secrets but this was something most teachers and students at Hogwarts knew.

Look Harry, we don't have any problems with your was just surprised. We know that all of your friends are good people. You would never chose someone not trustworthy to be your friend ",Lily said, trying to calm him down.

"I'm sorry Dad. I guess I was just angry because I thought that you wouldn't accept my friend because she came from a dark family ", Harry apologized to his family.

"It's okay, son. I would have acted the same way if my father didn't accept Sirius beacuse he was a Black", James said. The Blacks were a notorious dark family in Britain.

"Hey, there you are", a voice said, behind them. They turned around and saw Peter coming towards them.

"Did you get all that you need ?", He

asked them.

They nodded.

"So, now that we finished what we came here for. Can we leave now ? I've got some work to do at home.", he asked them.

"Yeah, okay", James said. And the Potter family along with Peter Pettigrew left Diagon Alley after a day filled with weird wand makers , annoying girls, a Malfoy and a few dark books.

Author's Note: This is the second chapter of this story. Sorry if it's a litte long. I just didn't want to split this chapter in two. Next chapter contains the hogwarts express and sorting. If you're confused about Pettigrew, the truth about why he is not in Azkaban will be revealed the summer after first year.

Reviews are always appreciated.


	3. Hogwarts Express and the Sorting

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER

Harry was sitting in his compartment alone. After a heartwarming goodbye from his parents where a few tears were spilled, he and his brother got on the train. His brother went on to find a compartment with his friend Neville Longbottom while he sat down in the last one.

Harry usually sat in the last compartment. He knew that his friends were probably looking for him. But until then, he decided to take a little nap. Just as he closed his eyes, he heard the door open and a voice

"Told you he'd be here"

Harry recognized this as Daphne Greengrass's voice.

"How do you know him so well ?"

This was Cedric Diggory.

"She had known him since he was five. It makes sense that she knows him well."

This was Tracy Davis.

"I also know that he is not sleeping."

He opened his eyes at that. He saw his friends Alexandra, Daphne, Tracy, Cedric and Roger Davies. He grinned at them. They took their seats. Daphne sat beside him while Alexandra sat in the opposite seat.

"My sister is getting married this Christmas" Roger said.

"That's great. Who's the Guy ?"

"It's not a guy. It's a girl and you guys know her"

They thought about it for some time but couldn't guess who it was.

"Come on, man. Just tell us"

Roger grinned at them

"Artemis," He said.

The whole compartment was stunned. Even Harry himself didn't expect this.

"Artemis Night!, your sister's marrying Professor Night ?" Cedric asked him, skeptically.

"Yep. I myself was surprised when I got to know about this. Apparently they've been seeing each other for a year and they just decided to get married." Roger said.

Artemis Night was the Professor of spell crafting at Hogwarts. She was the youngest as well as the most beautiful professor outpassing her colleagues by a mile. She was the fantasy of many boys ranging from fourth years to seventh years.

She was very close with Alexandra. Harry didn't know why but he knew that the Professor liked Alexandra more than others. He had asked his friend about the professor's interest in her, but she had just shrugged him off.

Harry and his friends were starting spell crafting that year. Hogwarts offered electives from third year to fifth and the number of electives increased as you progress. Third years were allowed to chose from Arithmancy, Divination, Muggle studies, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. In Fourth year, spell crafting and Magical Languages were introduced and fifth years could choose from Alchemy and Warding.

Hogwarts used to have only the first four electives and other subjects were introduced only after the first war. Harry didn't know why the sudden change occurred and he didn't ask anyone about it either.

"Your brother's starting Hogwarts this year, right ?"

"Yes"

"Tori told me she met him at Madam Malkin's"

"Yeah, he told me about it. He thinks she's annoying"

"What a surprise! I think she's annoying too but to everyone else, she's the perfect angel who can do no wrong"

The rest of them laughed at it.

"Harry, How's your brother's training going ?" Alexandra leaned to him and asked in a low enough voice. She was one of the only people who knew about his brother's training.

"It's going well. Dad threatened to cut his training if he doesn't end up in top ten students in the year." Harry replied

She chuckled at that.

"He wants to try out for the quidditch team in first year itself." Harry said.

"It's not so hard. We did it in our first year." Alexandra said.

"Yeah, I'm still beating you at it" He said smugly

"Just you wait Potter, This year Slytherin will definitely win the quidditch cup." she said.

"Hey, what are you two whispering about ?" Roger asked them.

"Oh, nothing. Just saying that I will kick Potter's butt at quidditch this year" Alexandra said.

"Okay. Nothing out of the ordinary then" Cedric said.

After some time, the sweets lady came, pushing her trolley. They each bought one of everything.

As they started eating, Tracy asked them, "Who is that lady ? I've never seen her in Hogwarts or even in Hogsmeade. We don't even know her name."

"She's the train." Harry said.

"What do you mean by that, she's the train ?" asked Tracy.

"She's the manifestation of the train. The powerful magic used to create this train and run it, it manifested on the form of the lady. She has her purpose, to run the train, create the sweets and give them to the passengersand prevent the students from escaping"

"Wow" Cedric said in awe.

"That's wicked" said Roger.

"How did you know all this Harry ?" Tracy asked him.

"My Dad. He and his friends tried to escape the train one time for fun. The lady caught them. After that, they were curious and asked her about it." Harry replied.

"Wow" Tracy said.

"These are the times I remember why I took you as a friend and did you the favour." Alexandra said, smirking.

"Hey, I was the one who did you the favour. Before I met you, you were all gloomy and silent. If I hadn't done that, you would still be loke that" Harry said.

"I talked to you because you were annoying and would not stop talking. I thought that if I talked back, you would stop your attempts at making me talk" Alexandra said.

"But I still made you talk didn't I ?"

"Yeah" Alexandra said, looking thoughtful. "I guess I still have to thank you for that"

"Yeah" Harry said, smirking in triumph.

It was only then that they noticed that the others were silent and were looking at them.

"What!" Alexandra said defensively.

"Nothing, just thinking that you two are perfect for each other." Tracy said.

"Hey, we are not like that. I see her as a sister." said Harry.

"Yeah, I see him like a brother too" Alexandra said, sounding a lot less enthusiastic.

Harry raised an eyebrow at her. But if she noticed it, she certainly didn't show it.

By now, the others were talking including Alexandra.

Having nothing to do other than to discuss girls with Cedric and Roger, he decided his nap from before. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, slipping into the realm of Morpheus a few moments later.

ALEXANDRA POV

Alexandra watched her sleeping best friend. Harry was very close to her, much closer than anyone else, including Kane. This was one of the reasons she had a crush on him. He had absolutely no idea of her crush and she was pretty sure he didn't like her that way. But that didn't stop her from hoping that he had the same feelings for her that she had for him.

Alexandra had seen her parents only once and that was when they had been in Diagon Alley to buy school equipment for her brother. Just by looking at him, she could tell that he was spoiled and arrogant. She was filled with hatred at the sight of her had lived most of her life at the orphanage. Even there, she was treated like an outcast. The other kids were afraid of her abilities and some hated her for it. She was lonely and miserable. Unable to tolerate it anymore, she ran.

She escaped the orphange and roamed the streets, stealing money from people using her powers. That was when she had met Kane. Kane was a 23 year old man who was abandoned at the same orphanage she used to live. Just like her, he escaped the place. He became a thug, doing whatever he could to make money. Kane had caught her when she was trying to pickpocket an official looking man. Rather than being scared of her ablities like others, he was amazed by it. He took her in and treated her as his own daughter. He was the one who trained her to be tough, trained her to fight. She loved him as a daughter would love her father. Living with him made her think her think that her life was going to be normal. But a month before she got her letter, he was killed. By a man who lend money to Kane. He shot him in the chest three times. Even though they got him to the hospital, it was too late. The police officers tried to get her to the orphanage but she refused to go there. And she ran, again.

When she got her acceptance letter, she accepted without thinking, trying to get away from the muggle world, which only held loss and sadness for her. It was only when Professor Mcgonnagal came to get her to diagon alley that she came to know of her family. She was outraged. Her parents were responsible for the way her life turned out. That day, she vowed to make them pay for every hardship she faced since she was born. She read books about wizarding politics and history to learn more about her parents and to find ways to take them down. She learned that the Malfoys were a French Pureblood family that arrived in Britain five centuries ago. She found out that the Perfect way to to exact her revenge was to take up the heirship of the family. Her family can't do anything to stop her. Disownment was not an option as Malfoy family lwas prevented the lord of the family from disowning his/her direct descendant.

She first used the money in her trust vault and the money she goyt over the years. When she got to Hogwarts, she made sure that no one would get close with her so that she could carry out her plans without any distraction. Being sorted into slytherin also helped. But even with her efforts, Harry became her friend. Harry had come to her one morning and talked to her as if they were friends for years. She had made many attempts to make him go away but all of them failed. One morning, she decided to talk to him and found that talking to him came quite easily to her. The two quickly became friends and then best friends. She told him everything about her and he told her everything about him.

She first developed a crush on him in third year. She would always plan different ways to ask him out to hogsmeade but she would always chicken out at the last moment. Out of their friends, only Daphne knew of her crush.

Daphne was like the sister she never had. They even looked similar. Both of them had shiny blonde hair and the same emotionless expression. Daphne had electric blue eyes while she had grey ones. Her skin tone was a bit paler than Daphne, but other than that there were no other noticeable differences between them. She was also well acquainted with Lord and Lady Greengrass.

As she watched Harry sleeping, she found herself wondering what was it that attracted her to this boy. She knew that Harry was getting to be quite handsome and that she should make her move before any other girl sets her sight on him. But how could she ? Knowing that Harry saw her as a sister and nothing more. She looked at Harry, imagining his adorably messy hair, entrancing grren eyes and absolutely kissable lips. She stopped there thinking to go no further.

'God this crush is getting worse each day' She thought with a barely concealed blush

DANIEL POV

Daniel was currently sitting in a compartment with Neville Longbottom. Neville was one of his oldest friends, as well as his best friend. Neville could do most of the first year spells with perfection but he had a little problem. He had no confidence in himself. Along with the constant pressuring from his grandmother who expected him to be like his father, all brave and talented, he had very little confidence in himself. Daniel hoped to help him raise his confidence and change him into the man he was inside but he knew that it would take some time. Even though Neville believed that he was a near squib who couldn't do magic, there was something he was good at. He was great at Herbology, in fact he was great at it. Dan hoped to use this to his advantage to break Neville out of his shell.

Suddenly, the carriage door opened and a boy with red hair came in.

"Is there anyone else sitting here?" he asked. " Everywhere else is ..." He stopped seeing Dan. Ron was once his best friend until the problems between their families came. After that, their friendship quickly went to tatters. When he met Ron at some function a year ago he tried to mend their friendship but his friend had changed. Ron had become snarky and cold. Even though he had tried to mend their friendship, but Ron's attitude prevented that. Ever since that there was some tension between the boys

"Sure, there's nobody else in here" Neville said breaking the silence.

Ron looked like he would rather stand than sit in the same compartment as Dan but in the end he sat down in the seat next to Neville.

They sat in silence for some time with some attempts by Neville to get them talking which failed.

Halfway through the journey, the carriage door opened and a familiar blonde girl came into the compartment and sat next to Dan.

"Malfoy and his cronies were really getting on my nerves" The girl said to Dan. He remembered why she was so familiar.

"Astoria!" he said.

"Yes, my dear Daniel" She said, smiling sweetly.

Dan blushed at the 'my dear' part but said "What're you doing here?"

"Are you saying that I can't sit here Dan ? I thought that we were friends. Ron and Neville were sitting here when I came in. Do you mean to say that only boys are allowed to sit with you and not girls ? How sexist is that!" She said, turning his words over.

"I didn't mean that. It's just..." Daniel sat there unable to form a good reply.

"You know I didn't mean that" He silently asked her.

"Yeah, but it's fun to do things like that" She replied.

She quickly introduced herself to the others, though she only received a short nod from Ron.

The four of them sat in silence for some time until Neville asked him about which house they were hoping to go into.

"I'm probably going to be in Gryffindor" Dan replied proudly.

"Same here" Astoria said, surprising him.

"Are you serious ? I thought that the Greengrasses were born Slytherins." Dan asked her.

"Yes, but I like to make a difference" She said.

"What about you, Ron ?"Neville asked Ron who was writing in some kind of book, a diary perhaps.

He didn't reply.

"Ron" Neville said, trying to draw his attention. He didn't reply.

Neville sighed.

"Which house are you going to be in, Nev ?"

"My Grandmother expects me to be in Gryffindor like my parents, but I don't think I have what it takes to be one. I'm probably going to be a Hufflepuff." Neville said, looking down.

"What do you mean, you don't what it takes to be a Gryffindor ? You have all the qualities of a Gryffindor. You're brave, noble and you never turn your back on someone, unlike some people" The last sentence was directed towards Ron but it failed to have the effect he thought.

Dan wondered what had happened to Ron. His friend had changed so much that he was practically a different person.

After some time, the compartment door slid open again and three boys entered. Dan recognized them as the Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and Draco Amlfoy. The three of them coming from powerful families.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Daniel Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Dan. He was looking at the other boys. The other two boys looked like bodyguards, looking mean and menacing.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Dan was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. Of course, you would know that."

Astoria gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at her.

"Think my name's funny, do you Greengrass? Well, you would want to start liking it. My father's talking about going to your about a contract. In no time, you will be mine"

Astoria went red with anger.

Smirking in satisfaction, he turned to Dan "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He said looking at Ron and Neville. Dan's first instince was to insult him but the politics lessons with with hs father came to him.

Draco held out his hand to shake but Dan didn't take it.

"Thank you for your offer but I think I should choose my own friends. After all, you and I have very different preferences for friends, isn't it?" He said it with careful wording so that Malfoy did not feel insulted.

Malfoy's eyes became calculating "Yeah, it's true"

After that, they left. Some time later, a voice echoed through the train:

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

The boys went out of the compartment to change. After five minutes, the train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Dan shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. Hagrid was the groundskeeper at Hogwarts. Dan knew that he was a gentle soul, kind and caring. He had seen him when Hagrid visited his parents once.

"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. Nobody spoke much. Neville sniffed once or twice.

"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!"

The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Dan and Neville were followed by Astoria and bushy haired girl.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, Oak front door. Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Dan recognized her at once. His father had talked about her as one of his favourite teachers.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right-the rest of the school must already be here - but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of therest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

They were chatting with the ghosts when a voice said "Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Dan had seen the Great Hall before in various pictures but nothing prepared him for the was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.

Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Dan looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars.

Professor McGonnagal placed a ragged hat on a stool. For a few seconds there was complete silence but suddenly the hat twitched and began to sing.

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffis are true And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

The sorting started and she called various students to be sorted. Hannah Abbot became the first Hufflepuff while Terry Boot became the first Ravenclaw. Milicent Bulstrode became the first Slytherin and Seamus Finnigan became the first Gryffindor. The real surprise came when Hermione Granger, a muggleborn became a Slytherin. Many muggleborn students in the hall started protesting about it. Muggleborns were not accepted in Slytherin and they knew that the other snakes would torture this girl. But all the protesting stopped when the headmaster shouted to be silent.

Astoria became a Gryffindor, just as she predicted. And again the hall became silent, he could see Malfoy gawking at her in disbelief but she just smirked at him and wen to Gryffindor table.

Neville became a Gryffindor, much to his relief and Malfoy became a Slytherin. Finally his name was called.

As Dan stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

"Potter, did she say?"

The Daniel Potter?"

The last thing Dan saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was thehall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second hewas looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.

Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, Oh my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"

"I think I will do well in Gryffindor. My friends are there too."

"Are you sure Mister Potter, that you do not want to go into any other house?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure."

"Very well, then. GRYFFINDOR!"

Dan went to sit Neville and Astoria. He looked around and saw his brother smiling at him from the Ravenclaw table.

After some names, Professor Mcgonnagal called "Weasley, Ron"

Ron came up to the hat and put it on his head. His sorting took the longest, taking nearly seven minutes. Finally the Hat shouted "SLYTHERIN!"

The hall became silent again. Dan saw his brother looking curiously at the Slytherin red head. He looked at the other Weasleys and saw that Percy Weasley was opening and closing his mouth like a fish while the Weasley twins looked shocked.

The silence was broken by Professor McGonnagal calling the next name. Within a short time, the sorting was completed. The Professor wrapped her scroll and took the hat away.

Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

"Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Dan didn't know whether to laugh or not.

Suddenly the plates in front of him were filled with huge varieties of food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table even in home: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs. Dan piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious.

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate eclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding - "

As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families. He learned that Seamus was a half-blood and Dean Thomas, another Gryffindor was a Muggleborn. Apparently, Seamus and Dean were neighbours and best friends.

After the feast ended, he was so full that he could hardly move.

Suudenly, Dan felt an intrusion in his mind. He quickly called down his Occlumence shields and got the intruder out. What was weird that his scar had started paining. He looked at the staff table and saw the teachers but none seemed to do this. He had to inform his brother about it.

At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.

"Ahern - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Some of the students laughed but Dan got the feeling that he was serious.

The Headmaster, after singing the school song which the teachers did so reluctantly said "Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

The Gryffindors followed Percy Weasley through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Dan was just wondering how much farther they reached a painting of a fat lady.

"Password?" she said. "Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.

Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase - they were obviously in one of the towers - they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.

Dan fell asleep almost instantly.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: SORRY FOR THE DELAY. THIS WAS THE CHAPTER WHERE I STARTED WITH THE PERSONLITIES OF SOME CHARACTERS. THOSE OF YOU WHO MAY HAVE QUESTIONS REGARDING THE PLACEMENT OF RON AND HERMIONE IN SLYTHERIN, ALL YOUR QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED IN THE STORY VERY QUICKLY. I GOT SOME REVIEWS ASKING FOR LONGER CHAPTERS. SORRY, I FIGURED THAT AS IT IS MY FIRST STORY, I SHOULD START WITH SMALL CHAPTERS AND THEN INCREASE THE LENGTH.

AT THIS MOMENT I HAVE ONLY A BASIC OUTLINE OF THE STORY AND I'M DEVELOPING IT FURTHER AS WE GO ON. ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THE STORY, IT WILL EITHER BE A SHORT STORY HAVING ABOUT 200K TO 300K WORDS.

OR IF I'M LUCKY IT WILL BE A THREE PART STORY WITH ABOUT 1 MILLION TO 1.5 MILLION WORDS.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me.

The two wizards faced each other in the middle of the stone henge. They wore identical grey robes covered with blood. The area around them showed the duel they had. The wizard with the silver eyes was pointing his wand at the other.

"It's over Orion. You've lost"

"I'll never lose. I will rise again and I will fulfill my destiny"

"Why, why did you become like this? I treated you like my son, both of you. I considered you as my own children. I fed you, I taught you, I saw you become a great wizard"

"And now you have to kill me" the man, Orion said.

The silver eyed man thought for a moment and said "No"

Orion looked at the other and started laughing madly "I expected this. You never could harm me good enough, Myrddin. And that is going to be your greatest downfall."

"I have many purposes in my life but killing you is not one of them" The man named Myrddin said.

"You will rise again, more powerful and more dangerous. There is nothing I can do to stop you. The only thing I can do is to delay you long enough so that the one to stop you will arrive." Having said that, Myrddin began chanting with moving his wand in elaborate patterns.

Suddenly, the walls of the stone henge started lighting up, showing the hundreds of thousands of hidden runes written in them. From the walls emerged tendrils of light which spread out in different direction, as if searching for something. The sheer magical energy emitted by them were felt by wizards miles away.

"Let every man, every being who fought for you join you in eternity. Let the darkness that accompanied you be trapped with you."

Within seconds, the land was covered by dark fog. Inside it, the screeching of several creatures could be heard. The fog covered the fallen wizard, Orion. It covered him such a way that it was like he was surrounded by a dark tornado. The tendrils of light which had returned covered latched on to the tornado. It compressed the darkness and along with it, Orion and the others. The compressed darkness was covered by the tendrils in such a way that it resembled a cocoon.

With a flick of his wand, Myrddin stopped the spell. The land cleared, the tendrils disappearing, leaving the blue coccon in the middle of the ground.

He then opened a portal with his wand and sent the cocoon through it. He knew that it would take a long time before anybody would find it.

"Goodbye, my son" He said. The only response being the furious scream from the cocoon.

Monday, November 15 1991

Harry awoke with a start. He looked his bed and saw his friends sleeping in their respective bed, none of them had woken up. He let out a relieved sigh.

'These dreams are getting worse' He thought furiously. His dreams had started in his first year. At first, they only happened occasionally. But this year, they occured almost every night as it happened the first two weeks after getting to Hogwarts. It was the same dream each time. When he researched the names Myrddin and Orion, he couldn't find anything. Sure, the names Myrddin and Orion were common names in History but there were no relation between people having these names or even about a fight that happened between them.

Looking out of the window, he daw that it was still dark outside. But still he cast the Tempus charm. It was only 4 am.

He decided to walk around the castle. He wouldn't get any sleep anymore. He quickly got dressed and got out of the dorm. The Ravenclaw dorms were divided into three. The students dorm where the boys and girls were given separate dormrooms. The Prefects Row where each prefect had a separate room. It also had rooms for Headboys and Headgirls. Then the Marital Suites which were for students betrothed to each other. Betrothal contracts in the wizarding world were rare but not extinct. Each House had at least one couple who were betrothed. The Ravenclaws who currently occupied the room were Jack Chambers and Aletha Quickwell.

Harry climbed down the stairs and reached the common room. The Ravenclaw common room was the airiest room in Hogwarts. It was like a mini library. Some nights when he wandered like this, he would one or two Ravenclaws sleeping with a book in their hands. The cool wind in the room helped people to relax.

Luckily, there was no one in the common room. Harry exited the common room. He cast a disillusionment charm on himself and made his way to the library.

'There has to be something in there that could help him understand the dreams.' Harry thought.

He reached the library after a close encounter with Filch. He decided to check the restricted section. As he made his way through the restricted section, he saw someone pass through the shelves. The person was so fast that the only thing Harry could see was her bushy brown hair. He couldn't remember anybody in his year with hair like that. And the girl was too small to be one of the upper years, so Harry figured she must be one of the first or second years.

He then remembered what he came there to do. He searched the rows for books on dark wizards and legendary duels. So far, the only which had the name Myrddin was the duel which Merlin or as some people call him Myrddin Emrys had with the dark lord Lutain who wanted to destroy the muggles who populated the Legendary city of Avalon. The duel which lasted 3 days was considered the one of the most epic duels ever. The spells exchanged were amongst the darkest and most dangerous ones. A battle so fierce that the people of Neighbouring towns felt it. Reading about the Duel, Harry couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong with what he was reading.

Harry decided to stop his search when he noticed the time. It was nearing breakfast. He quickly put the books back in their place and dashed to the great hall. He did not want to be caught by the Librarian Madam Pince or by Filch and his cat.

The first thing he noticed when he reached the Great Hall was that his friends were sitting at their respective house tables.

'That is weird' He thought, They usually sat together, irrespective of their houses.

A moment later, Harry saw the reason. Headmaster Dumbledore was sitting at the staff table. Normally, he didn't come there for Breakfast or any other meal except Supper.

The second thing he noticed was that Roger was glaring at him.

"Where did you wander off to in the morning?" It wasn't a question.

"Nothing, just exploring the castle and trying to find out its many secrets" Harry replied.

"Why didn't you invite me then? You know how much I like to roam the castle during curfew." His friend asked him.

"I thought about it at first, then decided that I would much rather let you sleep than let you annoy me when I am thinking"

"HEY!" Roger glared at him for that. He then started to ask another question but Harry interrupted him.

"Why is Dumbledore here?"

"Don't know. Maybe he wants to say something."

Within a few minutes, the Great Hall was full. Professor Dumbledore stood up. The entire student body fell silent except for a few yawns.

"My dear students, I have an announcement to make. As you all know, Professor Artemis Night has not been here for the past weeks due to some personal issues. But she has informed us that she will be returning tomorrow."

Many students from the Upper classes cheered at this.

"Another thing is about the Yule Ball for this year. We have decided that from this year onwards, students from Fourth year will be given permission for going to the dance"

The Yule Ball was a dance conducted every year for students from fifth year and above. It was primarily a fundraiser for the school but over the years it had turned a celebration for the school.

The entire hall was silent for a moment, then every fourth year from all the four houses cheered, Harry among them. This was great news. The Yule Ball was something every student below fifth year wished to go. Harry could the the groans and looks of envy from the lower years.

When the applauding subsided, Professor Dumbledore smiled down at them and said "Now that I have said all that I wanted to say, I will not be bothering you anymore I know that some of you want to sit next to your friends and I'm stopping you." Dumbledore was looking directly at Harry when he said that.

Having said that, Dumbledore strode out of thee hall with a pleasant smile on his face.

Harry quickly finished the leftovers of ht up. He looked at the Slytherin table and saw Daphne glaring at Alexandra. Alexandra though payed no attention to her, something which Harry respected. Not many were able to resist Daphne's glare. She was putting her books in her bag. He saw Daphne trying to talk to Alexandra, looking concerned and frustrated- or annoyed, he thought -but the female Malfoy just shrugged her off.

Another thing he noticed was that Draco Malfoy was sitting with Ron Weasley. His placement into Slytherin was one of the biggest surprises during the sorting. The Youngest male of the Weasley-Prewett clan got himself sorted into Slytherin and the interesting thing was that he did not seem upset about it at all. It was almost like he had expected it.

Harry tried to look into the boy. But the Weasley boy was surprisingly secretive. Even with the help of Daphne and Alexandra, the only thing he got to know that Ronald Weasley was a quiet student who would mostly read his books. But he never raised his hand in class, as Dan had told him. He apparently was brilliant at chess. That was bad.

Chess is a game which requires a good mind. One had to be smart, strategic, and be able to predict their opponent's next move to be a good chess player. A person like that should be a dangerous without magic itself. He had to keep an even closer eye on Ronald, he decided.

Keeping that in mind, Harry walked over to the Hufflepuff table where Cedric was flirting with some furiously blushing second years. Harry cast a modified version of silencio on him. His mother taught it to him. Apparently, she created it in her fourth year because his father was annoying her. The spell was designed in a way such that the speaker could hear his voice but others couldn't. The second years were looking confused and a bit concerned as Cedric moved his mouth and no sound came out.

Harry went over to the table and said "Hey, Ced. What happened to you? Why are you acting out scenes from your favourite silent dramas to these girls? Did something happen to you or something?"

He then said to the girls "Ladies, Something has happened to my friend here, I think. I'm sure that talking to you girls will be a great opportunity, but he's gonna have to pass. If you still want to talk to him, maybe we can set up a double date. I know some secret passages out of Hogwarts and some very good private spots."

"So are you interested?"

The two girls were blushing a rather attractive shade of red and were about to answer when Daphne strode over to them. She promptly glared at the two girls who quickly ran over to their table, Ravenclaw he noted.

Harry turned to Cedric who was glaring at him.

"Why did you silence me? I was happily talking to them." Looks like Daphne cancelled the spell.

"Those girls looked like they were about to faint. I was just doing them a favour. Besides, they were just about to answer if they wanted to go with us 'illegally' to Hogsmeade when Daphne came. I think you scared them, Daph"

"I meant to." came her reply

"But why did you silence me? I must have looked like a fool in front of them" Cedric asked, outraged.

"Yeah, you did" Daphne said, giggling, something she only did in the presence of her friends.

Cedric glared at her, but she swatted it away like nothing.

"Hey Daph, Did something happen between Alexandra and you? You were looking pretty concerned before."

"No, it's nothing. Some spell she was practicing malfunctioned and hit her instead. I told her to go to the Hospital wing but she says she's okay." She said.

"Yeah, Sometimes, she's so stubborn."

"Who's stubborn?" Alexandra said, coming up to them. Roger was behind her.

"You. Daphne was telling me about the spell that didn't work. She said you refused to go to the hospital wing."

"Oh, it's nothing, The table I was practicing the spell on blew. I just got a few scratches"

"Are you sure about it?"

"Yes"

Harry noticed that one member of their group was missing.

"Hey, where's Tracy?"

"She has a bad headache, so went to the hospital wing. She's skipping class today."

"Is she okay?" asked Roger, concerned.

"She told me in the morning that she will be here after lunch."

"Okay"

Harry remembered about Ron Weasley.

"Guys, there's something I need to talk to you about."

This got their attention. He pointed towards Ron Weasley.

"A Weasley sitting with a Malfoy, isn't that forbidden or something?" Cedric said

"The Weasleys are known to have a blood feud with the Malfoys, so yes it is forbidden" Daphne said.

"But the existence of the blood feud would make them hate other, wouldn't it" Roger asked.

"Not necessarily. While the blood feud would prevent two members of the family from being acquaintances with each other, an alliance between them can be formed if some conditions are fulfilled" Harry said.

"What type of conditions are you talking about?" Cedric asked.

Harry looked at Alexandra.

"The approval of one of lord of the houses. To make an alliance between two members of houses involved in a blood feud, An approval of one of the lord of the houses is needed." She said.

"Well, we know that Arthur Weasley would never allow for this"

"It's my wonderful father." Alexandra said. The others turned to look at her.

"My brother doesn't have the cunning or intelligence to make an alliance with is enemies. You can ask Daphne if you don't know what happened the night after the sorting." She said.

Harry knew what she was talking about. the night after the sorting, the youngest Malfoy tried to assert his power among the house. He tried to use his family name to control the members of the house. It was Alexandra and Daphne who silenced him and taught him the rules in the house. Harry was disappointed that it only made a small.

"Yeah, Draco Malfoy is a very bad Slytherin. He doesn't even have the least cunning or sneakiness. He's so bad that he can be mistaken for being a Gryffindork. " Daphne said.

"Hey my brother is in Gryffindor" Harry protested.

"So is my sister, which I'm still blaming your brother for" She replied.

"Guys, don't you think that we are straying away from our conversation" Alexandra interrupted them.

"Oh, sorry. Please continue Alexandra." Daphne said.

"I don't know what my father is planning to do with Weasley. But whatever it is, it's going to be bad" She said.

Just then, the bell sign along the end of breakfast echoed throughout the Great Hall.

"What do you have now?" Harry asked Cedric.

"Potions with Gryffindors" He said.

"Oh, the poor Gryffs" Roger mock-cried.

As good as he was at Transfiguration and Herbology, Cedric was abysmal at Potions, to the point that he would mostly always put a shield around his cauldron while brewing.

"Let's talk about it later, after class, guys." Harry said to them. They all nodded at it.

Harry grabbed his books and went to his Transfiguration class which he was sharing with Daphne and Alexandra. Roger and the other were behind him as they walked.

After a few turns through the never-ending maze that was Hogwarts, they reached their class.

There were only a few students in the classroom. The others were arriving. Harry took the seat at the back of the class beside Alexandra. Roger sat with Daphne.

After he was settled, Harry looked around the room for the Professor but she was not in the room, not even in her cat form.

"You didn't get hurt by a wrong spell, didn't you?" He whispered to Alexandra.

She stiffened for a moment and it was barely noticeable but Harry saw it. She straightened, turned to hi and said "Why do you think that?"

"Please, I know you. You don't mess up a spell, no matter how hard it may be."

"I'm telling the truth, okay. The spell was a special project I was working on during the summer and it was really hard even for me."

"I was just asking if there were any other reason for your spell to blow up. I didn't mean to imply that I don't trust you or anything."

"There's no other reason, Harry." She said.

Trying to change the subject, Harry asked her, "What do you think about Professor Night arriving tomorrow?"

Harry saw her eyes light up and a weird emotion bubbled up inside him. Harry pushed it away.

"I'm really excited about it. Professor Night wrote to me during the summer that she had something really good for me when school opened."

"Any idea what that is?"

"No idea, but I wonder if it is about her marriage to Roger's sister or something else."

"Maybe she wants you to be her bridesmaid or something" Harry said, trying Alexandra in a bridesmaid dress.

"Merlin, Can you imagine me in something like that?" She asked.

"Yes, I can. You would mostly look ridiculous." Harry joked.

She just punched him in the arm.

"Hey!"

"You deserved it. And stop talking, the class is about to start now."

Looking around the classroom, he saw that it was nearly filled the students started to fill the room. A few seconds later, the classroom door burst open and the Professor came in.

"Good Morning, Class" She said.

They said their good mornings.

"So, for the last two weeks we've discussed about what all of you have learnt in the last three years. Today, I've decided that we will start with theory and basics of Conjuration" She announced with a smile.

Most of the students were excited at this, Harry himself among them. The last three years focused on basic transfiguration.

"I'm sure that many of have read ahead of your textbooks and have got an idea about what we're going to teach this for those who don't know about it, I will explain now." The professor said.

"Conjuration is a form of Transfiguration that is extremely difficult to master. A reason for that is because, Conjuration is essentially elemental transfiguration itself. When we transfigure something, for example, a matchstick to a needle, we are changing a solid to another solid. We need only a small amount of Magical energy for it. But when we conjure something, we are transfiguring the air around us itself. Due to the different gases ans particles in air, we combine all these materials and transfigure them together, This increases the amount of energy we need. "

The class listened on with great attention. Harry saw Daphne hanging on to every word Professor McGonnagal was saying.

"Conjuring solids from air is harder than conjuring water. This is beacause there are already particles of moisture in the air. 'Aguamenti' is a spell that is based on conjuring water from air, though it is also argued that it also employs principles of summoning water." She said.

"I will now show you a demonstration of conjuring."

She said and waved her wand in a few elaborate patterns. She said an incantation and suddenly, a chair appeared on the floor, magically coming out of her wand.

The whole class clapped at the demonstration.

"Now all of you turn to the page 45 of your textbooks."

They spend the next hour practicing to conjure a silver needle through magic. Needless to say, it was extremely hard.

'Professor McGonnagal makes it look easy' Harry thought, trying to conjure his needle.

After the end of the class, only three people were able to conjure it, Harry, Daphne and Alexandra. Roger was nearly having succes at conjuring it but he didn't get the time to perfect it.

"We had a nice lesson didn't we?" Daphne said, as they were putting their books back in their bags.

"If you call that nice, I hate to see what you call exhausting. But it sure was interesting." Roger said.

Harry checked his schedule for his next class.

Harry next had Defense Against the Dark Arts which he desperately wanted to skip. The Professor was a stuttering fool who barely taught even their textbooks. Harry only attended it because it was compulsory to attend at least three Defense consecutively in a week, a new rule released the year before.

"We have DADA with the Hufflepuffs next. An hour of Quirrel's stuttering." He said

"Honestly. I don't get why professor Dumbledore would not fire him. We don't learn anything from his classes." Daphne said

"Yeah, I lost count of how many times I thought about that." Alexandra said.

"What do you two have next?" Roger asked Daphne and Alexandra.

"Charms with the Gryffindors. Argh, I hate them. They always pick fights with us, though some of us don't hesitate in fighting them, an example being Draco Malfoy"

They laughed at it.

When Harry and Roger got to their DADA class, Harry sat next to Cedric in the back of the class. A few minutes passed, the other students entering the classroom and taking their seats. Then the door opened and the Professor came in walking into the class with an air of confidence around himself. When e began talking, there as no stutter there, a fact which was as confusing as it was surprising to all the students in the class.

"I know that the way I'm talking now in this class is surprising to think about. The last year and the beginning of this year, I admit that my teaching has been less than satisfactory" A few students chuckled at this. "But I assure you that I will not be ever like that again. I had got over that part of my life and I'm now trying to be a different person." He stopped and looked around the class, then said "As I said, I'm changed and now I ant to check your knowledge about what you have learnt over the last two weeks and then we will continue from where I stopped last class."

Many students groaned, their feelings about an active Quirrel quickly changing. The previous Quirrel, that is, the way the Professor was before the weekend usually did not ask qustions o the students due to the fact that it would take him too long to do so but now it looked like that the Professor was going to be more active in teaching. The professor started asking questions to different students, giving five points for each right answer and 2 points off for each answer. After that, he started with a lecture on curses, a fairly new topic or them. The Professor seemed to be focusing mainly on the Unforgivables than the rest. The class was interesting a divergence from the previous ones.

"Even though the Unforgivables are considered to be the most dangerous spells ever created, there are many spells which have far worse effects when struck than the these three curses. If you want examples, there is the Blood-Boiling curse which literally increases the temperature of the blood, the Entrail- Expelling curse which causes one's entrails to be expelled from the body."

"But even though these spells are far more worse than the Unforgivables, they are still not included in the Unforgivable list. Anyone can say why?"

Stewart Ackerly held up his hand.

"Yes, "

"Even though there are more severe curses than the Unforgivables, all of them can be shielded against or deflected. But the Unforgivables cannot be blocked or deflected."

Quirrel smiled widely and said "Correct , Take 5 points to Ravenclaw. What he said is correct, the main reason why these three curses are considered to be Unforgivables is the simple fact that they cannot be blocked. Anybody know why that is so?"

Nobody raised their hands.

Quirrel sighed and said "The reason why they cannot be blocked is because of the fact that these spells are pure energy. The other curses are magical energy which is not pure. The Pure energy in the Unforgivables causes them to pass through the shields made of unpure energy that one creates. If you want to know how a spell is pure energy, the best and the easiest example is the Cruciatus curse which literally overloads your nerves with magical energy causing you great pain."

The students were very carefully taking notes about the curses. Many were fascinated about the concept of pure energy.

Just then, the bell signalling the end of the period rang.

The students started putting their books in their bags. before leaving, the Professor gave them a Homework to write a 4 feet long essay about 3 different curses, their incantations, wand movements, effects and the ways to shield against it.

Harry, Roger and Cedric walked to the Great Hall to have their Lunch. He saw Daphne, Alexandra and Tracy sitting at the Ravenclaw table. They went and sat next to them.

"Hey, Trace, you alright?" Roger asked in what he classified as a charming and concerned tone.

"Yes, I am. Thank you for asking, Roger" She replied.

"Did you hear about Quirrel today?" Harry asked the girls.

"Yes, I heard that his teaching methods improved and somehow he got over his stutter." Tracy said.

"His class was just as good as First year today. He claimed that he was a changed man and was now going to be more active in teaching now." Roger said.

"Anybody know why that happened?" Cedric asked.

"Who cares about what happened to him? Now I can spend the time I use to study for DADA in library on my hair and face." Tracy said, waving the subject away.

"Gosh, do you ever think about things other than your looks and boys?" Daphne asked her in exasperation.

"Yeah, I do think about studying, occasionally." She said.

She then turned to Harry and Alexandra.

"Hey, Harry, Alexandra. Do you know anything about a duel between your brothers?" She asked them.

"No, I don't know about any duel. Where did you hear about that?" He said, confused. He looked at Alexandra and saw that she was just as confused about it as he was.

"Malfoy, sorry, not you Alexandra, your brother was boasting about it at the table." She said.

"I will ask my brother about it." Harry said.

'I will definitely ask him ' Harry thought, as they ate their food.

[Linebreak]

Daniel was walking to his Common Room after the classes when somebody grabbed his hand and took to him an abandoned classroom.

Looking up, he stared into the emerald green eyes of his brother, which were not dissimilar to his own.

"What's this I hear about a duel? And choose your answer wisely, brat"

Daniel quickly replied "It wasn't me, Draco Malfoy was the one who did it."

"What did he do? You better tell me everything from the beginning" Harry said.

"We were going to our classes when Malfoy came to us and started taunting Astoria. When Neville stepped up for her, Malfoy started to insult his parents and said that he was a shame for them. Neville got upset, you know how he gets when somebody mentions his parents. Malfoy then challenged Neville for a duel, Tori volunteered to become his second. It's tonight, in the trophy room. That's all that happened, I swear." Daniel said.

"Who's Malfoy's second?"

Daniel hesitated.

"Tell me, Daniel." Harry said.

"It was Ron." He finally said.

Harry paused. Then he said, "Don't go."

"What do you mean, don't go? We have to go."

"Malfoy is trying to get you caught out of bounds. I will bet anything that he has informed Filch that you will be in the trophy room tonight. You shouldn't go and don't let your friends go either."

Daniel hesitated for some moments then said "Okay, I won't go and I won't let them go either."

"Good" Harry said. "But you should go to your common room now."

"Okay, but I have something to show you." Daniel said as he took a piece of parchment out of his pocket.

"What are you doing with that parchment?"

"Just wait and watch." He said, grinning and took out his hand and placed it over the parchment.

He then said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Immediately, words began to appear on it,

'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present

THE MARAUDER'S MAP'

Harry's eyes widened. He had heard his father tell him about the map which he and his friends created to prank students and teachers. His dad had told him that the map was lost one day and was likely to be confiscated by Filch. In his First and Second year, he often snuck into Filch's office to search for the map but he was unsuccesfull in his attempts and thought that the map was destroyed.

"Where in the name of Merlin did you find this?" He asked his brother.

"I got this from Fred and George. Turns out their brother Charlie found it in his Seventh year and gave it to them." Dan said, grinning.

"Hey, I am friends with Fred and George and they haven't showed me this map ever." Harry said.

"Maybe you should be in the same house as them. " Dan said.

"Maybe, Maybe not. But why did they give it to you?" He asked his younger brother.

"Sirius sent me a letter, they saw the name Padfoot and Prongs on it and asked me who those names belonged to was. I told them about the Marauders, then they gave me the map saying it was my family heirloom or something. They also asked me if I could set up a meeting between themand the Marauders." Dan explained.

"What did you say?" Harry asked him.

"That I would try"

"Anyway, Dad and the others would be very happy when we tell them about it. Probably Mum too, after all, it was using this map that Dad followed her through school." Harry said, imagining the looks on their faces.

"Yeah, it would be pretty good. I think we should tell them about during Christmas." Dan said. Dan then remembered something.

"That would be a good surprise for them." Harry agreed

Dan then remembered something.

"Hey, Harry, there's another thing I want to talk about." He said.

"What?"

"Two weeks before, during the Sorting, when I was looking at the staff table, my scar suddenly started paining . And today, when I was walking to the Lunch after Defense, the same thing happened. It happens quickly you know, one moment I'm okay and the next my scars starts to pain."

"Your feel pain in your scar, has that ever happened before?" Harry asked him.

"No" Dan answered.

"If this first happened two weeks ago, why are you telling this now, why not before?" Harry asked his brother, narrowing his eyes.

"Look, I forgot about it the first time okay. I only remembered it when it happened again today."

Harry sighed "Have you informed our parents about it?"

"No, I thought that I would first tell you and then tell our Mum and Dad." Dan said.

"Go to your common room and immediately inform our parents about it. I would also do the same."

"Yes, I will do that." Dan said.

"Okay, now go. It's way past curfew and you should be back in your common room by now." Harry said.

"Kay. Goodnight Harry" Dan said, leaving the classroom.

"Goodnight Dan and don't get caught." Harry called after him.

"I got this, remember" Dan said, waving the Marauder's map behind him as he walked.

Harry then quickly got his bag and left the classroom to the Ravenclaw common room. He had a letter to write.

[Linebreak]

"Harry, Harry, wake up. Wake up, Harry"

Harry slowly opened his eyes and saw Roger standing before him, grinning. He looked around and the rest of the Ravenclaws in his dorm sleeping soundly. He looked out of the window and saw that it was dark.

"Roger, what are you doing at this time of night and why did you wake me?"

"I couldn't sleep and I thought that I would explore the castle a bit."

"Look, Roger, if you want to explore the castle. go explore. But why did you wake me for it?"

"I thought that I would do it with you so it doesn't get boring. Now move your body out of the bed and get dressed. I am not gonna wait for you forever." He said, ordered would be more correct and stuffed some clothes in Harry's hands.

Harry groaned but did not fail to obey him. He got out of the bed and changed. He then went to the Common Room where Roger was waiting for him.

"Come on, Ivan. The mysteries of the castle awaits us." Roger said, quoting a line from a Famous novel in the Wizarding World.

"If you quote a line from Slytherin secrets again, I'm gonna punch you" Harry warned.

"Duly noted, Sir" Roger mock saluted.

They wandered among the castle trying to find secret passages and rooms. Harry found an abandoned secret passageway that led them to a room that looked suspiciously like the Upper Years Girls Bathroom. Roger seemed pretty ecstatic about it.

Harry walked into an abandoned classroom with Roger following closely behind. The Classroom seemed to be unused for years. It was not probably a surprise for them because there were hundreds of rooms like this in Hogwarts which were not of use to anybody except for couples who wished a quick snog. The classroom had several shelves with different objects in boxes stored in it. Harry took down a box and looked inside. It had different objects like abandoned textbooks and equipment. Harry took one and looked at the cover.

The Art Of Spell Creation by Maria WaterStall

It was the exact same text book they had, but this one looked like a few centuries back.

"Looks like we found the Lost and Found of the School" Roger said, grinning.

That was when Harry noticed something in the box. He removed the few books there were and took out the Golden Locket in the Box.

"Hey, look at this" Harry said, showing the locket in his hand to Roger.

"Is that a... Golden Locket!?" Roger cried, his voice slipping nearly in to scream

"I..uh..think so. Here, let me check" Harry said, taking out his wand. He gave the locket to Roger and aimed his wand at the Locket.

'Probare aurum' He whispered. The Locket glowed gold.

"Yeah, it is gold."

"Who would be an idiot enough to lose a golden locket?" Roger said.

"What should we do with it?" Harry asked.

"Why do you ask that? I say we keep it."

"We can't do that. This belongs to someone else. We need to give it to the Headmaster or someone else. There are charms that can be used to trace lost things back to their owners."

"Why should we go through all that trouble to give this to people who lost this in the first place?" Roger said, outraged that Harry was going to give this to the Headmaster.

"No, I won't do that. I am going to give this to the Headmaster" Harry said.

"No, you're not going to do that. I'm not going to let you."

"Why are you so stubborn about it? Why do you need this so much?" Harry asked, feeling angry.

"You may have no need of money. Your family is one of the most influential families in Britain but my family is the laughing stock of this world. My family can barely manage to get things like this. So, I would to get every bit of money I can."

"Whatever you say, I'm not going to let you take this. There are far more ways to earn money, legal ways, the right way."

"Give me that" Roger said, grabbing for the locket in his hand.

"NO" Harry said, wildly trying to dodge him.

"GIVE ME THAT" Roger screamed and jumped at him.

But while they were fighting, they knocked down some of the boxes in the shelves creating a lot of sound. 

Both of them were silent for some moments, trying to find out if somebody was coming to that room. They were about to get back to their dorms when they heard a voice.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner." It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris.

Both of them whipped out their wands, prepared to stun Filch if it came to it. Harry put the locket in his pocket. He cursed himself that he hadn't taken his invisibility cloak.

They scurried silently towards the door, lest they get caught.

"They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."

They creeped down a gallery filled with full of silver suits of armor. They quickly creeped behind a tapestry and entered the hidden passage. They walked through it and found themselves in an abandoned classroom. But just as Roger entered from the passage, he hit a suit of armor and it fell on the ground, making a sound enough to wake all of Hogwarts.

They threw open the door and blasted through the corridor. They turned lefts and rights wildly and reached an dead end. They could hear Filch running through the castle searching them. And to top it all off, Peeves was there in front of them. 

Peeves caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight. 

"Shut up, Peeves, you'll get us caught." Roger said.

"Wandering out through the night aren't you? Naughty, naughty, should her caughty"

"I'm warning you Peeves, Shut up."

"Ooh, warnings. Should tell Filch, I should. Warnings are bad."

Realizing what he was about to do, Harry shouted "Silencio Exviceratas" 

A pale blue light shot towards Peeves from Harry's wand. Peeves suddenly found himself unable to speak, or shout, as he meant to do.

The spell was something Sirius taught him. It could be used to silence ghosts and other beings of the astral plane including poltergeists.

But the action proved to be useless as they could hear Filch coming towards them.

They quickly tried to get through the nearest door but it was locked. Harry tried Alohomora but it did not work. He then tried something he saw in a fifth year textbook.

"Colloportus" He said, pointing his wand at the door. Fortunately, it worked. 

They opened the door and entered the room. They closed it behind them and listened carefully. 

"They are somewhere here, sweetie. I can smell them. Soon, we would have some of these brats out of the castle."

They could hear Filch searching the place, trying to find them. Filch came close to the door behind which they were hiding. Harry quietly whispered a charm to lock the door. He heard Filch try the door, but it did not open. They heard Filch shuffling around for some moments but he eventually gave up. They heard him muttering about lost chances and that he would get them another time.

Harry listened carefully to make sure that Filch was far away. But Roger started prodding him.

"Don't do that. I am trying to hear Filch" Harry snapped, keeping his voice quiet enough.

"Um..err.. You really need to see this Harry" Roger quietly said.

"Is it more important than getting caught? If it's not, it can wait." Harry said impatiently.

"Yes, it is more important than getting caught."

"WHAT!" Harry said, turning to look at Roger, but what he saw made his blood run cold. 

There was a huge Cerberus in front of them, its three heads looking curiously at them. Harry then knew where they were, the Third floor corridor. And he knew why it was forbidden. 

Harry knew that the Cerberus was analysing them and would attack them at any fast movement or loud sound. 

"It will attack us at any fast movement. So whatever you do, don't make any fast movement or an loud noise."

Roger nodded slowly. 

Harry quietly cast a Colloportus on the door. He heard the lock click and door slowly opened. 

Harry grabbed Roger and slowly moved towards the door. Bu the locket in his pocket fell to the ground making a loud clanging noise. The Cerberus attacked quickly, trying to bite them. 

Both of them dodged the attack, humping to the side, but its tail hit Harry as he was jumping. Harry was thrown to a wall. Pain flooded through him. He groaned in pain. He aimed his wand at the dog and cast the most powerful stunner he could. It wouldn't do anything to the dog but he hoped that it would at least distract it long enough for them to escape. As he hoped, it worked. The light which hit it distracted it. Roger, who was beside him grabbed him and ran to the door. They ran of the corrider, locking it behind them as they ran. Harry's body was still paining him. Roger carried Harry and took him to an nearby classroom. He placed him on a bench.

"How bad are you hurt?" Roger asked him.

Harry groaned in the pain.

"It's bad enough." Harry said. Roger quietly agreed.

"Here, let me see if I can do anything about the pain" Roger said, casting a few healing charms on his friend who was in pain. It didn't work as he hoped, only lessening the pain. 

"Can you wait for a few minutes? I will get the others. Hopefully they will be able to do something." Roger said.

Harry nodded.

Roger left and for a few minutes, there was silence except for a few muffled groans Harry made. Then the door opened and his friends came in. Cedric constructed a privacy ward which covered the room. 

The three girls came to his side. 

"Can ypu say where it pains the most?" Tracy asked in a no-nonsense tone. 

"My Chest" Harry made out. Tracy cast a few analysis charms on him. 

"Your ribs are broken and your chest and stomach muscles are bruised" Tracy said. 

She cast a few advanced healing charms on him and Daphne helped her. Both of them aspired to be healers in the future. Alexandra held his hand while they worked, a gesture that filled Harry with warmth. 

"It's going to be okay." Alexandra quietly whispered in his ears.

Meanwhile, Daphne and Tracy finished their work. 

"I have done all I can, but for him to be cured completely, we need to get to Madam Pomfrey." Tracy said.

"No!" Harry shouted, which could not be heard outside, thanks to the privacy charm.

"Why! I know that both of you were wandering the castle past curfew but you would only get detentions and point losses for it. And I think your well-being is of more worth than that."

"It's not that. If my parents knew about this, which I'm sure they will, after Pomfrey tells them, will pull me out of the school. I don't want that. Please, Tracy, can't you do anything about it?"

Tracy seemed to think for a moment .

"Yes, I think I can do something but I will some potions from Pomfrey private cupboard if I have to do it"

"I will get them. Daphne can come with me to make sure I take the right ones." Cedric quipped in. 

"Okay, I will give you the list of the necessary potions" Tracy said. She quickly scribbled something on a piece of spare parchment with her surprisingly muggle pen.

Cedric and Daphne took the list and left to get the potions. After ten minutes passed, they came back, panting. 

"Had a few close calls with Filch but we were able to get it." Cedruc said, taking the potion vials out of his pocket and giving it to Tracy. Tracy took a measuring vial and poured the right amount of a potion in it. She gave it to Harry and told him to drink it. Harry complied. The potion was bitter to drink and he was sure he woul feel its taste for a few days at least. Tracy then repeated the process with the other two potions, each time casting a Scourgify on the vial to clean it.. Each of the potions were bad tasting but he could feel their effects. The pain had begun to lessen and he could feel his chest muscles mending themselves. 

"Alright, I've given potions to fix your bones and muscles. I have also given you a pain lessening potion. Now all you need us a good and peaceful sleep. You will be alright in the morning. There will be a bit bruising but it will not be much." Tracy said.

"We need to take him somehwere private. The Ravenclaw dorms are not safe because, in the morning, they will notice that he is hurt." Roger said. 

"Hufflepuff dorms are the same." Cedric said.

"Slytherin dorms have separate rooms. We can take Harry there. Nobody will know about it. Harry can stay in my room." Alexandra said.

"Are you sure that it won't be any problem to you?" Harry asked her.

"No, it won't bother me in the least." She said.

"Allright, let's take him there." Roger said. 

"Wait, all of you need not come. It will draw too much attention. It's our common room, we will take him there." Daphne said.

"Okay" Cedric and Roger said, reluctantly. 

Harry went with the three girls to the S lytherin Common Room. They reached a stone wall in the Dungeons and he heard Daphne whisper to it "Victorious". He deduced it was the password. Alexandra went in to check if anybody was there and came back a moment later to say that there was nobody. They took Harry inside the common room.  

The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling, from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. The fireplace which was under an elaborately carved mantelpiece suddenly burst with flames. The room was suddenly filled with warmth. Harry guessed that that it only came to life in the presence of students. There were three stariways, one on the right, one on the middle and one on the left. All of them went down. They took Harry to the right staircase which Harry thought led to the Girls dorms. The dorms were in different floors, each floor was for each year with the additional marriage floor which could be accessed from each of the dorms. Alexandra's room was the Fifth room on the right in the Fourth floor. The room was pass so protected so that only those who knew the password could enter. They went inside the room. 

The room immediately lit up when They entered and Harry got a good look at it.  
The walls in the room were a mix of colours. Each wall had a different colour, each of them belonging to the different houses. Harry noticed that it had every house colour except Gryffindor. There was a bed with an elaborately carved headpiece and a wardrobe which was large enough to put all of Ravenclaw boys clothes in it. There was a chair and a table which had a bunch of books stacked on it and there were some photos which were pinned on the wall, mostly their friends but also some others. Harry saw a girl with dark hair who he thought he knew from somewhere. There was also a door which Harry thought led to the private bathroom.

"You like the room? I designed it myself." Alexandra said, with pride in her voice.

"It looks good." Harry replied. 

"Put him on the bed." Tracy ordered.

Daphne helped him to lie on the bed. Alexandra sat on the chair near the table. 

"Damn, your room is big and you have your own bathroom. I should have chosen Slytherin when the hat gave the choice." Harry said. 

"Well, Slytherin prides itself in their value to privacy." Daphne said.

"All right, we need to go to our rooms and sleep. Harry and we need our sleep."' Tracy said. Both of the girls moved out of the room. Alexandra got up and closed the door after they left, locking it. 

"This is the first I've been in a room with only a girl other than my mother with me." Harry said to Alexandra. 

"Well, you will be doing it loads of times in the future, not only in bedrooms, but in bathrooms, broom closets, maybe even in classrooms. So consider this practice for you."

Harry blushed at her statement, but said, "Hey that's in the future, maybe it won't happen for a long time."

"A long time, really. Admit it, Harry, you are hot. Soon enough, there will be girls piling up for you." Alexandra said.

"Me! Hot! You're just teasing me." Harry said.

"Nope, I'm telling the truth and I think I will give you a test to seen if you can handle having a girl in you bed." Alexandra said and she got up and lied next to Harry in the bed. 

"You're seriously gonna lie with me?" Harry asked, skeptically. 

"Yes, you didn't think I was gonna sleep in that sleeps did you?" She asked.

"Yes, I did."

"Well, you thought wrong. I am gonna lie with you and if you weren't hurt, I would swing my arms and legs across you and use you as my personal teddy bear." 

Harry blushed at the thought but found himself cursing his bad luck.

"Well, this is also the first time I have had a girl in my bed." Harry said.

Alexandra smiled and just leaned in to to kiss him in the cheek. 

"Just sleep Harry" She said, leaving him speechless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review. 
> 
> AN:The pairings are HarryAlexandra, DanielAstoria, LunaRolfScamander, NevilleSusan or NevilleHannah


End file.
